Hi there, I have been using CloneDisk (Reitek G04) disks for a while with a pioneer A05 and although half of the discs i burned would only write at 2X speed and half the discs the wrote at 4X failed verification, I was very happy with the compatibility of the discs that i did manage to burn in standalone DVD players, but as my A05 is now dead I am looking for a new DVD writer that will write 100% of my G04 discs correctly at 4X speed without problems, which would be the best DVD writer to go for?

Well i was very interested in the NEC ND-2500A but found a lot of posts saying it has compatibility issues with G04s and my pioneer A05 has serious issues so i dont think i really want a 106 or 107 unless someone knows different?

if it helps, I've burned g04s well in my 411 and while @811. However, check the nec forum as it seems that many people are reporting very positive results with the 2500 with the new hacked firmware with the bitsetting feature.

Until we actually SEE one of these drives burning DVD9, I think I would hold off on saying that it is "upgradeable". Similar promises have been broken before by more than one drive maker. >>>>>>

Why hold off? If you going to buy today, why not get one that actually at least claims to offer DVD9 where none of the other do? It has all the features: dual format, bitsetting and it's great reader and very good burn analysis (it's predecessor). It's predecessor DW800A has gotten got reviews and burn analysis by cdrinfo and C't.

P.S. I talked with Pre-sales BenQ rep and he said their fully functional dual layer burner (DW830A) will be out the 2nd wek in April.

Also the latest Anandtech article supports that refocusing the laser should be fairly simple.

There may be some folks who don't share your enthusiasm for "testing" done by those places. Nobody is saying the Benq isn't a decent burner, although they certainly didn't earn a good reputation with their CD burners. I'm just saying that maybe "upgradable to DL" is not a reason to buy it right now.